Posted via web from Evan’s posterous

Posted via web from Evan’s posterous

Posted via web from Evan’s posterous

Posted via email from Evan’s posterous

Posted via web from Evan’s posterous

Posted via web from Evan’s posterous

Posted via web from Evan’s posterous

1:59 CDT Seats are tight.  It’s getting full in here. SXSW volunteers are having people squeeze in.  I’m here with @johnwromano and @piggott

2:01 CDT Hugh Forrest is on the stage welcoming everyone.

2:03 CDT BTW @gingin has much better seats than I do.  She’s a real VIP.

2:05 CDT Hugh is talking about Twitter from four years ago.  Showed his Twitter shirt from back then.

2:06 CDT Evan on stage.  Hugh confirmed that announcement would happen.

2:06 CDT ANNOUNCEMENT: New platform @anywhere for integrating Twitter onto Web sites.

2:07 CDT Showed video.

2:08 CDT Interview beginning.

2:09 CDT Talking about opportunity to follow individuals without returning to Twitter.  Imagine being able to follow a journalist on news site without leaving.

2:10 CDT “Should result in more followers for site”

2:13 CDT Discussing experimentation as a way to find a business models.

2:14 CDT Making commercial use use of Twitter easier.

2:14 CDT Today Evan Williams thinks of Twitter as an information network.

2:15 CDT Focused on increasing signal to noise ratio.  Giving people what they want with as little effort as possible on their part.

2:17 CDT Others reporting on Twitter that @anywhere account followers are growing quickly.

2:18 CDT Evan spends half of time focused on the product.  Other half on the building the company and its culture.

2:20 CDT Evan discussing openness vs. transparency. Prefers openness, b/c it allows for others to get involved rather than only see inside.

2:21 CDT Openness is a survival mechanism for Twitter. Assumptions Evan tells new employees: “assume smarter people are outside the organization.

2:24 CDT Openness increases value across the entire network. Debated internally about plans. Going to license data to more providers than just the big players.

2:26 CDT Talking about corporate support applications.  Cites CoTweet and HootSuite.

2:28 CDT Evan jokes about hardware devices for Twitter.  Cites a device for bakers that somehow connects to their ovens.

2:29 CDT Discussing how openness can hurt as well.  Cites SPAM applications.

2:30 CDT Evan references support email from Chilean thanking them for their platform’s help following the earthquake.

2:31 CDT Has SMS deals with 65 carriers.  Twitter can help those on the other side of the digital divide via mobile.

2:33 CDT @anywhere appears to be some sort of group account.  @elizabeth posted an update 5 minutes ago with link to platform announcement.

2:37 CDT Discussing how the Internet reduces barriers between influencers and the people they influence

2:41 CDT Discussing how Twitter can help play a role in making sure people are better off.

2:43 CDT Twitter has eight principles.  First one is “be a force for good.” Another one is “pay attention.”

2:47 CDT One favorite use of Twitter is cases where it helps someone make a better decision. State Dept told Twitter that their platform was where the word about text message donations to Haiti really took off.

2:48 CDT Discussion how Twitter could help make Walmart better.  Interesting.

2:53 CDT Discussing Twitters advantage if they aren’t hoarding data. Twitter only does win-win deals.  Could do low-hanging fruit, but it’s not win-win or sustainable.

2:55 CDT Discussing how Twitter has changed how journalists work, but hasn’t replaced TV or other sources.

2:56 CDT Some folks leaving now.

2:58 CDT Things that are fundamentally new and do positive things drive Evan.  Says entrepreneurs services should be explained by “wouldn’t it be awesome if…” and “wouldn’t it be awesome if I had a million dollars” is not the answer.

3:00PM CDT SXSW volunteers are gathering to the right of the audience en masse.

3:01 CDT Some folks commenting on Twitter feel like Umair is interviewing himself.

3:02 CDT Volunteers making a wall to keep people from exiting via side door.  Red Rover!

3:04 CDT Wait, we have cops here.  I’ll file out the back. Umair is on last question.  Asking Evan to give advice to entrepreneurs. Start simple. Be focused. Expand from there. Also, think bigger.

3:05 CDT Thinks it’s hard to think differently in Silicon Valley.

3:06 CDT Closing applause

The problem is that we are tacticians.  We think in terms of how we can use the available technology to solve business and personal challenges.  We need real examples to help us contextualize the power of the Semantic Web and inspire us to put its technology to work.

At its core the Semantic Web is about transitioning from a web of documents to a web of data.  Data is at the core of every Web site.  It might be meticulously organized in a relational database, or trapped in HTML, with limited machine readability.

As Web professionals, we love data.  The mashups that littered the Web 2.0 landscape are impressive.  They are ahead of their time and as such require many developer hours to create and maintain.  The Semantic Web will enable better, faster and more comprehensive mashups.  This will be possible with common formats (like XML), encoded with rich metadata that uses ontologies (like OWL) to make relationships machine-readable.

The users of Web 3.0 will have unprecedented access to data.  Imagine that you would like to know when you could meet with a friend.  You could go to the Web and query your calendars.  Perhaps you wanted to buy a car.  Imagine a Web where every car buyer and every car seller could connect.  No need to visit multiple sites, because you can query the entire web of data.

But how will this work?  It’s simple, but not easy.  Content creators will post data using RDF (resource description framework).  That will contain metadata that clearly defines the data available and how it relates to other data. Using the metadata defined in the RDF and the relationships regulated by ontologies, users will be able to query the data with a common language (like SPARQL).  And as more data is available, additional applications will be built to help users do this, so that these technical details are transparent to end-users.  The best part is that this won’t require intensive relational databases.  It’s will be possible with flat files, distributed across standard HTTP servers.

For this endeavor to succeed we, as Web professionals, need to embrace Semantic Web technologies and help make this possible.  It’s to our benefit, and it won’t happen without us.